The Hidden Prophecy
by Mettimetti
Summary: Chiron finds a prophecy in the attic of the Big House that talks about a quest three half bloods and three companions will have to complete the summer after the prevention of the second golden age. the t is a precaution, im not sure it will really be "t"
1. Hellhounds Ruin My Date

I inhaled the fresh summer air. It was a beautiful day. I had survived another year without blowing up my school and/or getting expelled. I was on my way to meet Annabeth, so that we could go to The Java Moose together. Everything was perfect.

Which is why, looking back, I curse myself for not predicting what was about to happen next.

I was turning the corner when suddenly somebody barreled into me.

My hand moved instinctively to my pocket, which housed the most dangerous ballpoint pen I had ever heard of.

"Nico!" I exclaimed.

I was staring at my friend and fellow half-blood, Nico. He was wearing dark jeans, and a black T-Shirt under a weathered black leather jacket, despite the heat. He had grown about three inches since last summer, and his hair was a dark and shaggy as ever. A few more inches, and he would be almost as tall as me, which was alarming, as I was about four or five years older than him.

"Hey, Percy! We gotta run!" he panted.

"Why? What's happening?"

He pointed down the street. Three small hellhounds were far behind, but quickly gaining. Nico turned the corner and started to run, but I grabbed his jacket.

"We can't run! I'm not sure what these mortals see, but the hellhounds might try to attack them!" I took out Anaklusmos and uncapped it until I was holding a three-foot long blade made out of Celestial Bronze. The sight and aura caused the hellhounds to slow, which was good, because they were now about ten yards from us.

Nico sighed. "I suppose you're right." He unsheathed his sword. It was short and pure black, forged from Stygian Iron. It caused the hellhounds to stop completely. By this point all the regular people on the street were running and screaming.

"Thank the gods they're tiny," I muttered. The evil mastiffs were only about the size of a Honda Civic, which, for hellhounds, is small.

Suddenly one whimpered in pain and _Poof! _It was like throwing a vat of sand into a small tornado.

Before I had time to wonder what had happened, the other two were upon us. One tried to tackle me, but I jabbed Riptide straight up.

Nico stabbed the other with his blade, and his sword began to drink up the essence of the beast, until there was nothing left but a pile of dust.

I looked up to see Annabeth taking off her magical Yankees cap she had gotten for her twelfth birthday.

She trained her stormy-gray eyes on me.

"Jeez, Seaweed Brain. I just can't leave you alone, can I?" she asked, but she smiled.

I couldn't communicate in words how great it was to see her again, but I think she saw it in my eyes. We had planned several times over the school year to hang out, but for one reason or another, it never happened.

"Hey, Wise Girl." We stepped closer together, and our lips were just about to touch when Nico cleared his throat.

"Um… sorry to ruin this reunion," he said shiftily, "But I just thought you should know… I was being chased by twelve of them!"


	2. We Pick Teams

**Sorry the last chapter was really short-like 5 and a half hundred words-this one will be longer, I promise**

"You mean there are nine more?" I asked, incredulously. "Where did they come from?"

"Where do all hellhounds come from?" Nico countered.

"Um…guys," Annabeth said. "This is an interesting discussion about the origin of monsters, and all, but I would suggest we run."

"Good idea," I told her, and we took off. The only hope we had was to get to the camp's borders before we all got turned into dog food. You see, no monsters or mortals could get the property lines of Camp Half-Blood, almost like we had sprayed a giant can of repellent everywhere.

I ran next to Annabeth, with Nico in front of us. I remembered two years ago, when I had tried to go to the movies with Annabeth, and it didn't work out either.

"Every time we try to do something," I panted to Annabeth, "it never works! I swear the gods don't want us together!"

She looked at me seriously and said: "You could be completely right." It was true. We were on several gods' bad sides. Ares, Hera… you get the picture. Gods never seemed to like heroes that much. Which kind of sucks, because heroes lead tragic lives in the first place.

"Less talking more running!" Nico shouted from ahead of us. The hill was in sight when I made the mistake of looking back. The nine were almost upon us.

Come on, I thought. Just a little bit more…

"Nico! If they're hellhounds can't you control them?" I called to him.

"Nope," he responded, breathing heavily. "It doesn't seem to work!"

We reached the hill and began sprinting up it. Nico passed the pine tree, Annabeth put on a little more speed and bounded past, and I took a great leap…. And fell backwards. I turned over to see a hellhound directly over me. It was faster than its companions, but they were catching up. I heard Annabeth gasp.

"Stay back there!" I shouted as the hellhound shot its jaws towards me. I rolled to the side and uncapped Riptide. The evil dog spit out some dirt and looked at me like I wasn't even worthy to be its chew toy. I slashed at it and the mastiff crumbled into nothing. The eight others were right behind me so I dashed to the other side of the pine tree and leaned against it.

Peleus, the guard dragon, looked up in mild surprise, but then its head sank back down and he started to snore. I heard eight _Thwumps! _as the hounds slammed themselves into the borders. They whimpered in pain and hunger, but began sniffing the ground, looking for a way in. Three things whizzed over my head and caused one of them to disintegrate. I turned around and saw Chiron, your typical director as activities. You know, if centaurs are typical.

"Leave this place!" he ordered, shooting more arrows, and, sure enough, the remaining seven hounds dejectedly sauntered off.

"Well, that was a little too close for comfort," Annabeth sighed. That was an understatement.

"I have never seen so many travelling together at once," Chiron remarked. "I am worried by what this means. When my father was defeated, the Great Stirring ended." Chiron only called Kronos his father when he was worried.

"All year monsters have been moving in groups or packs. It seems hunting is getting harder for them, but I don't know why," Nico said, looking deep in thought.

"I think I do!" said a familiar voice. Clarisse walked up to us, wearing jeans and an orange Camp Half-Blood T-Shirt.

"Clarisse," Chiron said, sounding a little agitated, "We have discussed this before. I think it is purely coincidence."

"Are you kidding? This would make perfect sense!"

"What?" I asked them, but it seemed like they didn't hear me.

"Look," Clarisse said, venom in her eyes. "I don't care if you want to think the world's perfect but people are definitely turning into stone! You can't deny it!"

"We need more proof!" Chiron said. "Medusa has not regenerated yet! I do not see what else could be doing this!"

"Whoa," I said. "Hang on…" I had fought Medusa several years ago, and I had sent the head to the gods. Poseidon had returned it to me, and my mom had used it to get rid of my

"The head," Clarisse insisted. "Or something! People are disappearing and statues that resemble them keep turning up!"

"Resemble," Chiron pointed out.

"And now with half-bloods being turned into stone, monsters don't have enough food. It all adds up!"

Chiron sighed. "There is a prophecy," he said, his voice low. "I found the copy of it in the attic a few days ago. How it got there, I do not know, but it does describe something about people turning into stone."

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?" Clarisse asked, looking extremely frustrated.

"Because it… well, I'll let you see it."

We all walked back to the Big House. Chiron climbed up the steps until he reached the ladder. When he stood in front of it, it glowed and became a ramp, which he cantered up. This was the first time I had ever seen him go into the attic.

"Now where did I put…" came Chiron's voice, amidst sounds of shuffling and clanging. "Ah! Here we are." He descended holding a weathered scroll that looked as old as the previous oracle. He unraveled it and read aloud:

_The summer after the Second Golden Age is prevented,_

_When the world seems quiet, normal, contented,_

_Three half-bloods, three others will travel the tides,_

_They will split up, be forced to choose sides._

_Three will travel to the isle where one resides alone,_

_To stop the world from turning to stone._

_Of the six that travelled on a quest so glorious,_

_Three will return, sad but victorious._

"Now you see why I didn't want to tell you," Chiron said, looking pained. "We have gotten so many campers, I don't want to lose any. Especially any of you."

"But we have to go!" Nico and Clarisse said. I looked at Annabeth and saw that she had a troubled expression. I had a feeling she was wondering the same thing that I was. Something just didn't seem right. Chiron had found a scroll of unknown origins, depicting a prophecy that sounded unlike any prophecy the Oracle had ever given. For one thing, there were too many lines. But I didn't voice my suspicions, and neither did Annabeth.

"Whoa guys, hang on," I said, suddenly realizing something. "It says "three half-bloods, and three others. There are four of us, and we're all half-bloods. One of us can't go!"

"That's okay," Clarisse said. "I have other things to worry about."

I shot Annabeth a quizzical look and she returned with one that said _I'll tell you later._

"Okay," Annabeth said. "So we have Nico, you, and me. So who will the others be?"

"Tyson?" I suggested. He was extremely strong and had master metalworking skills. Plus, he was my half-brother.

"Yeah," Annabeth said. "And Grover." Grover was a lord of the Wild with some strong nature magic. Plus he was our best friend, and we had been going on quests with him since our first one.

"Nico?" I asked. "Do you want anybody?"

Nico shook his head. "I can't think of anybody." Being a son of Hades, Nico was kind of a loner. He didn't really make a lot of friends. Plus, none of us wanted to bring anybody, because of the line "Three will return." But, Annabeth and I had been on plenty of quests that sounded a lot worse in prophecy than they turned out to be.

I thought about suggesting Rachel. Annabeth hopefully was secure enough that I wanted her and not Rachel that she wouldn't protest. But I decided not to. I don't know why. Maybe because being the Oracle was enough for a mortal.

"I can't think of anybody else, at the moment," I said.

"Yeah. I'm stumped," Annabeth remarked.

"Hmm," Was all Nico muttered.

"I mean, there would be a bunch of people," I started.

"If they could be half-bloods," Annabeth finished.

"One more thing," Chiron said. "I believe that half-bloods are turning to stone at such a rate that almost everybody at the camp will be stone in a week and a half. We've had one person here already, so the borders don't seem to protect us. And the rate at which people become stone seems to be increasing."

So a quest to save the world, with a time limit. The usual.


End file.
